Panglao island

Panglao island Dauis Reviews

On my trip to the Philippines my third major three day halt was Taglibaran, Bohol where I spent a lot of time at leisure watching many places of interest natural and man made.I was given to understand that I could take a island hopping trip and combine it with Dolphin,Whale and sting ray watching for about 2100 PHP and while planning through negotiations realized that the Whale watching could be a whale of a yawn and the Sting Ray story an heck of a fix.I therefore fixed an island hopping trip with a travel agent to take me from Tagbilaran to Panglao,Balicasag and to Virgin islands which he said would cost around 50 USD for the two of us and would also cover transport by car to and from the hotel, private boat,an hour of dolphin watching would be sans breakfast and lunch.That was a bargain and so we packed some breakfast and sufficient water snacks and drinks to cover the trip which was to be till an hour or two beyond noon.

Panglao island was the biggest island from where at about seven in the morning we boarded a mechanized country craft which is a unique designed boat only found in the Philippines.The weather was perfect,just enough sunlight, no rains and a soft breeze blowing away any blues or hang overs of the yesterday.It was a smooth ride as the boat balanced itself very well on the strong but not so high waves in the bay.We were given safety life jackets but I found it cumbersome as did the persons manning the craft.

After sailing in the pristine aquamarine waters for about thirty minutes,we stopped to drift along with few other crafts full of tourists and waited to see the dolphins emerge from the waters.It was an interesting feeling to watch over the waters and to be the first to catch sight of the dolphins.Luckily I should say that I was the first to notice movement of the dolphins several hundred meters away and quietly alerted my boatman towards the direction.May be some others spotted them too and the race to get a better and closer look began among all the country boats, with us in the lead heading towards the direction of the Dolphin school.To our astonishment as we where sailing towards the school,all of a sudden a dozen Dolphins broke waters just a few meters near our boat and it was all excitement.The dolphins liked to play the game of hide and seek with us and always caught us unawares as we gasped in sheer thrill.After playing for about an hour the dolphins dived into the waters to surface a mile away and began to go about their morning hunt for breakfast.There is a secret in this Dolphin encounter which I noticed but I dare not reveal the same for I loved the sport and the tourism surrounding this Dolphin adventure which happens to be a major source of livelihood for the impoverished fisherman community of Panglao.

The dolphin watching attraction is a nice experience and if one can imagine them self as a sailor in one of those Spanish ships of old,entering the bay after having sailed for months in boredom;the joy these mammals bring would be a thousand fold.